Want Your Kid to Be a CEO? Name Him Peter LinkedIn Culls Membership to Find What Names Make a CEO

Rogati accounted for the prevelance of each name in the general population, and then looked to see which names were overrepresented in each profession or as CEO.

CEO names tend to be either short or shortened versions of popular first names. Onomastics specialist Dr. Frank Nuessel suggests that shortened versions of given names are often used to denote a sense of friendliness and openness. Female CEOs, on the other hand, use their full name to project a more professional image.

Personally, I think we'd find even more interesting information if we could look for other correlations in that LinkedIn database. How do job titles match against race, religion, country of origin, or better yet with names that potential employers might assume fit with one race or religion. Studies have shown that having an African-American sounding name can harm an applicant's chances of getting the job, but LinkedIn data could help expand on those findings.